The City of Cape Town, in partnership with the Cape Town Environmental Education Trust (CTEET), BirdLife South Africa (BLSA) and the Cape Bird Club (CBC), will host a festival and family fun walk on Saturday, 19 October 2019, at the False Bay Nature Reserve. Entry is R5 per person.
The City invites all residents, especially the communities surrounding the False Bay Nature Reserve (FBNR), to come and enjoy a family day celebrating some of Cape Town’s best wetlands and the diverse birdlife they support. This will be an opportunity for residents to spend the day outdoors discovering a nature reserve right on their doorstep.
The FBNR is regarded as the most significant natural asset in the Cape Flats District and in 2015 was declared a Ramsar Site, which is a wetland of international importance.
‘Our False Bay Nature Reserve is an important multipurpose open space that should be enjoyed by all Capetonians. Through this event, we hope to encourage greater use of the area and create awareness about the importance of the reserve and the birds, animals and plants that it supports. Protecting our natural resources is a team effort. The City, working together with partners such as CTEET, BLSA and CBC, actively conserves these areas as part of our commitment to being a caring city, but we ask communities to support our conservation efforts in return’, said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Marian Nieuwoudt.
‘In extending the conservation message to the greater Cape Town community, we hope to broaden awareness of the False Bay Nature Reserve, and in turn encourage our youth to become custodians of their natural heritage,’ said Dr Anthony Roberts, CEO of CTEET.
The FBNR Birdathon, Fun Walk and Festival aims to bring together people of all ages to introduce them to the area and its incredible natural resources by letting them experience it in a fun way, while learning about its importance.
Event details:
Participants can take part in a 4 km, 5 km or 6 km fun walk through the Strandfontein Birding Area section of the reserve. Each child that completes the fun walk will receive a medal and an activity book including fun environmental word games and a quiz about the area. There will also be lots of exciting lucky draw prizes on offer at the end of the walk.
The festival, which will take place on the banks of the eastern shore of Zeekoevlei, will include a stellar performance by the Steenberg High School Wind Band, interactive activities such as a live bird display by Eagle Encounters Raptor Rehabilitation Centre, a reptile show by the Cape Reptile Club, and a display by the K9 Unit and Horse Unit from the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Police Department. There will also be environmental education displays from other NGOs such as SANCCOB, Shark Spotters, BirdLife and more. Melomed, a key sponsor of the event, will be providing a facility for basic health screening and information for adults.
Entry for the event is R5 per person. All profits will go towards conservation activities at the site.
Registration will take place on Saturday, 19 October 2019, from 08:00 to 10:00 at the picnic area on the eastern shore of Zeekoevlei. Participants in the fun walk can start walking anytime from 08:30 to 10:00.
The festival will start at 09:30 at the Zeekoevlei eastern shore picnic area. The venue will be signposted from the access point off Flowerpecker Street.
Source: City Of Cape Town